Black and white photograph. Issei (Japanese immigrant) paritcipants in a competition of shigin (singing of Chinese poems). This event was staged as a welcome recital for the head of the shigin school in Japan, seated at the center of the sixth row. The group is posed in eight rows, seated and standing on the stage of the Seattle Buddhist Church. All are formally dressed and wear flowers or badges. The shigin master and the man next to him wear Japanese kimono. Shigin, the singing of Chinese-language poems, was an art practiced by the scholarly elite of Japan. It was brought to the U.S. by the Issei, but not carried on by later generations in this country. Paper torn and creased at lower left and right sections. Information from Nobuko Huston. Photo identification researched by Ed Suguro. Stored in Oversize Photo Box 2

1995.008.007